


Collection

by soundscape



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, HOARDING: BURIED ALIVE, JUST KIDDING?, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-07-28
Updated: 2014-07-28
Packaged: 2018-02-10 17:30:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,073
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2033769
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/soundscape/pseuds/soundscape
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>One of the strangest, most fascinating attributes of human nature, he noticed, was that people liked to collect things.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Collection

**Author's Note:**

> IF YOU WANT ME TO CONTINUE THIS, TELL ME, OK... This is just me messing around with my writing style... Hahahaha... Thank you for reading!

One of the strangest, most fascinating attributes of human nature, he noticed, was that people liked to collect things. He could think of just about any item in the world, and he knew he'd find there's probably someone out there who already hoarded it. Aesthetically pleasing things, like shiny rocks or colorful buttons. Antique items; old relics. Everyday things like cups, clothing. Some people even hoard their own trash, not wanting to throw anything away.

It wasn't just the item collected that varied, either, but the size of the collection. Some people kept things in neat and limited sets, not having doubles of anything. Others had no such boundaries at all, and they simply continued to add on and on and on at their own will.

People and their quirks were interesting, he thought, which was why he took to observing them. Although he was no exception to these materialistic urges. Kuroko Tetsuya collected snowglobes.

It wasn't anything he greatly obsessed over, but he was quite proud of his little quaint collection. He'd been attached to snowglobes ever since he was a young boy; his dad had gone and bought one around Christmas and the first time he'd shaken it up Tetsuya was mesmerized. Of course this had been the first one he'd obtained to kickstart his collection, and over the years he'd rounded up a good number.

Most of them were gifts. Gifts from his friends, who also had their own collections and knew what it meant to him. Sometimes though, Tetsuya would pop into the antique store down the street while passing by, taking a moment to look around. The old man that ran the shop was always so kind to him; he'd reserved the snowglobes he managed to get his hands on for Tetsuya so he'd often hit jackpot when visiting. And he'd walk the rest of the way home with a blissful little smile, knowing he'd picked up yet another rare treasure to add to his shelves.

It was this very same shop Tetsuya had stopped in front of today, as something in the window piqued his interest. There was a boy wearing distinctly the same uniform the old man usually adorned when manning the shop... yes, someone else was at the register today. Someone he hadn't met before, with two-toned strikingly red hair and the eyes to match; an appearance so rare that had his gaze glued to the window.

Curious, Tetsuya entered the shop.

The ding of the bell that rang whenever the front door opened caught the redhead's attention. He turned his head towards the entrance with anticipation and a hello on his lips-- only to see nobody there.

"Um--"

"Hello." Cue freakout. The taller male sprang to attention with a very, very loud yelp, nearly smacking his head against the shelves behind him in surprise. Tetsuya merely continued to peer up at him owlishly, having experienced this reaction plenty of times before-- it wasn't as if he _wanted_ to scare the life out of others, his lack of presence dictated over his will when it came to situations like these.

He went straight to the point, not even giving the new shop attendant time to recover.

"Excuse me, but do you happen to know anything about what happened to the nice man that runs this shop? I've never seen the store open before without him being present, so I was a little worried..."

"What are you-- Hah?!" The redhead appeared to want to snap at him rather than answer his question, Tetsuya noted, but it seemed as if he recovered his manners and realized he shouldn't be rude to customers because in the next minute he had himself somewhat composed. "Oh. Oh! You mean my old man?"

This was news. Everything clicked at once-- Tetsuya was aware the shop keeper had a son living over in America, but he hadn't heard anything about him coming to visit. Or about him taking over the shop in his stead.

"I believe so. I take it everything is okay, then."

A grin lit up the boy's-- Kagami Taiga's-- (he'd taken a glance at the nametag briefly and saw that he did indeed share the old man's last name) face, and Tetsuya couldn't help but find it absolutely dazzling. He didn't know why, nor did he show it, but the way his eyes crinkled made something in his stomach flutter uncomfortably. Strange.

"Yeah, yeah." Kagami waved a hand in dismissal. "He's completely fine. I just thought I'd take some of the burden off his shoulders, since I'm gonna be staying around here for a while and I don't wanna totally bum on him."

"... That... makes sense," Tetsuya replied slowly, fitting this information together with what he already knew of the situation. He allowed a small smile to match the other's grin after a moment, his relief showing through faintly. "I'm glad to hear it."

"Heh. Thanks for worrying about him, anyway. Means a lot. Uhhh..." Kagami's happy expression abruptly faded into one of confusion, and he paused to scratch at his cheek before finishing sheepishly, "I guess you're that Kuroko fella, huh."

Tetsuya's eyes widened. "Yes-- I didn't realize he spoke of me... Ah. Please allow me to properly introduce myself." He gave a curt, obligatory bow. "Kuroko Tetsuya. It's a pleasure meeting you."

"Y'don't gotta be so formal 'bout it-- Kagami Taiga." A thumb was jabbed in the direction of his name tag for emphasis, and Tetsuya, for some reason, felt a small pang of glee having noticed it beforehand. "Yo."

They shook hands (and of course Tetsuya made a mental note regarding how strong and calloused the taller boy's hand was, which he thought fit his image perfectly) and took a short stroll around the store together on a search for snowglobes (he'd mentioned his collection and Kagami had cut in going, "Snowglobes, right?" with a goodhearted laugh) before Tetsuya had stopped to glance down to his watch, and decided to call it a night. Time passed surprisingly fast with Kagami as opposed to the slow, relaxing lull he'd experience when with his father, and he didn't know whether that was a good thing or not.

However; there was one thing he _was_ certain of, he thought, as he caught yet another glimpse of Kagami's radiant toothy grin when he was being waved goodbye to-- and that was that he would definitely be seeing this person again.


End file.
